Lauryl
by dark-rose189
Summary: The story of Lauryl, starting from the moment she had her picture painted, ending after her death.


A/N: I always wanted to write something about Lauryl since I first played the game years ago, and now I finally managed to write and even finish it! This obviously contains spoilers for the entire Robbing the Cradle level so if you haven't played it, don't read this. I also did a little experiment with my writing style, the story is written in first person and since Lauryl is about 8-10 years old, I also tried sounding like someone her age might sound. I'm not sure if I managed to pull it of, though…

Warning: Character death (Lauryl is ghost in the game, so that's inevitable)

* * *

The soft sound of the brush on the canvas was the only sound I heard while I stared in space and tried to imagine myself far far away. My nose had been itching for a few minutes now but I was too scared to even wrinkle it up a little bit, so I just tried to imagine myself in a situation where my nose wasn't itching and where I wasn't sitting on a chair and being painted by one of those creepy and dangerous patients.

"Yes. Yes! This is going to turn out perfect! You're such a good little girl, sitting perfectly still, just like _everyone_ should, when they're being painted.", the man now muttered, but I didn't dare to move my eyes to look at him.

The prickling in my nose increased and I started to pray to the Builder that the patient would finish soon and that I was able to keep myself from sneezing.

I had never wanted this, but when Miss Arthur told me that they needed someone to sit for a painting as a reward for good behaviour for one of the patients, I just didn't dare to say no. Miss Arthur had looked at me in the same way she always looked at people when she dared someone to say no, and since me and Drept had already got in trouble for the last time we were sneaking into the kitchen, I agreed to do it.

The doctor, who took me over to the observatory for the painting, seemed less scary then the others I had met, but when he told me that I needed to make sure that I sat absolutely still because moving around might upset the patient, and that he would wait downstairs and I should scream if I needed help, I got really scared and didn't want to do it anymore. It was too late to change my mind though, and so I ended up on this chair in the observatory, being terrified and sitting as still as I had never sat in my entire life.

"Almost finished now, just a bit of shadow over there… yes, perfect!", the man continued and I inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. The itching had become almost unbearable now and I wasn't sure how much longer I could hold the sneeze back.

The man put away his brush and colours, walked back a few steps and looked at his painting.

"And we're done! It's done, I actually finished it this time! You sat so good and still, why couldn't all the others have been like this? Come! Come over here and look at it! Isn't it beautiful?!", he called excitedly.

Was I allowed to move now? I slowly and carefully turned my head to look at him and when he didn't protest I stood up and made a few hesitant steps in his direction, while also finally rubbing at my nose and making the itch stop. He had told me to come over, but I wasn't sure if I should really do it. I was scared to come near him, but I also was scared to upset him by not doing what he wanted.

"Come on, don't be scared, I wouldn't hurt such a well-behaved child like you!", he said while gesturing me to come over. I carefully walked over to him and then turned to look at the painting, while being careful to leave as much distance between him and me as possible.

"Isn't it beautiful?", he breathed and I had to admit that it was a really good painting. It looked almost real. Had I really looked that uncomfortable, though? I had felt that way, but I had hoped to hide it. I felt the man's eyes at me and I realised that I hadn't answered his question yet.

"Yes, I really like it.", I answered and when I looked over at him, I saw him smile at me. He looked almost nice now, but I knew that if he was nice, he wouldn't be here.

I suddenly heard footsteps coming up the stairs and I looked over to see the doctor coming inside. I felt most of the nervousness go away. The doctors were almost as scary as the patients, in my opinion, but at least the doctor wouldn't harm me.

"Ah, I thought I heard talking. So, are we finished then?", the doctor asked the man.

"Yes. It turned out perfect. Come, look at it doctor."

The doctor came over and I used this as my chance to get some distance between me and the two of them.

"Yes, it's nice.", the doctor said but I could hear in his voice that he didn't really care about it. The patient seemed to notice it as well, because his smile vanished from his face and he asked in a much quieter voice if he could keep it.

"No, I'm afraid that won't be possible. You know the rules Nuvio, one personal item per patient and you already have your telescope."

"But…"

"No, no 'buts', the rules are there for a reason.", the doctor cut him off. "And besides, without your telescope you couldn't come up here to the observatory once a month anymore, and you wouldn't like that now, would you?"

For a moment it looked like the patient gave up, but then he seemed to change his mind.

"Keep it up here then, so I can see it every month.", he suggested, but the doctor shook his head again.

"No, you see, the other patients might view that as special treatment and we can't have that. The picture will be brought somewhere else. Don't worry, we won't throw it away, you can have it back once you get released."

Suddenly the man got really angry and he started to yell at the doctor.

"I won't ever get out of here and you damn well know it! You just want to take my first real success from me! I've never been able to paint something so perfect, because they all kept _moving_, and now that I finally succeeded in _finishing_ a painting, you want to take it away from me! I won't let you!"

The patient suddenly jumped forward and started to attack the doctor. I let out a surprised scream and then fled down the stairs. I wasn't too sure if I wanted to get help or just get away, but halfway down the stairs I met another doctor running up the stairs, who had probably heard the shouting and I was relieved that I didn't need to worry about getting help anymore. That still meant that I had to make my way back to the nursery tower alone though. And that meant going through a part of the asylum alone. Hopefully all the patients were in their cells!

When I reached the bottom of the stairs I carefully looked around the corner and listened for any footsteps but the only thing I could hear was the distant voice of a woman softly singing a nursery rhyme. I quickly crossed the hall and let out a sigh of relief when I reached the stairs to the nursery tower without running into anyone.

In the tower I quickly walked over to my bed and pulled out my diary from underneath it, where I kept it hidden. The other children weren't there at the moment, probably outside, playing in the courtyard, so I had all the time I wanted to write in my diary. At least that's what I thought. After writing two sentences my friend Drept came running into the room and I quickly shoved my diary back under my bed. I just didn't want anyone to read it, not even him.

Drept came to a halt in front of me and tried to catch his breath. "Oh, thank the Builder, you're alright. I heard about a patient attacking someone in the observatory, that's where you were to get painted, right?"

I nodded and sat up on the bed. "It was the doctor who got attacked. He didn't want the patient to keep the painting and the patient got mad over it."

"But you are alright?" Drept asked concerned.

"Yes, I ran away, when they started fighting. I just got here a few minutes ago."

Drept looked angry. "They never should have made you do this! You could have got hurt there! They have all those rules about not going near the patients and then they suddenly _make_ you go near one. That's…"

"Drept it's OK.", I interrupted him. "It was scary, but now it's over. We met scarier patients when sneaking around, remember?"

"That's true, but they weren't supposed to be there. How could I know that there would be one in the kitchen, when we were trying to get some bread? They never should have turned part of this orphanage into an asylum."

"Yes, it was better before." I agreed with a sigh and let myself fall back onto the bed and looked at the ceiling. It had been so nice, when we children could play around the Shalebridge Cradle as much as we wanted and didn't have to worry about where we were going. Those days seemed so far away. Now we were all cramped into the nursery tower and had to be careful where we went and careful not to make too much noise, because we might upset the patients.

"Want to go play outside a bit before dinner?" Drept asked after a while of quietly sitting next to me. "It's still a bit cold outside, but the weather's nice." I agreed and together we went outside and joined the other children.

-.-.-.-.-

The next few weeks went by with nothing scary happening, which was a nice change. I once saw the patient who painted me again and he smiled at me, but I pretended that I hadn't seen him. Apart from that we didn't see much of the patients and if we weren't still cramped into the nursery tower, it would almost feel a bit like it did before.

Sadly the weather had turned bad again and we were stuck inside and couldn't play outside. It was after dinner and I sat on my bed in my nightgown and wrote in my diary again, not really caring that the others would know about it now. I was really bored and just needed something to do. And I could always find a different hiding spot for it later.

Drept came over and sat down next to me. "I'm bored.", he said. "Want to play something?"

I looked up from the diary and nodded. "Mhm. I've just been thinking about sneaking some chalk from the lesson room, once the weather is better. We could make a hopscotch. I wish it would stop raining and we could play right now."

"What about some hide-and-seek? We can play that inside." Drept suggested but I shook my head.

"No, we can't, not with the patients around. What if we run into one? And we can't play hide and seek here in the nursery tower, there aren't any good hiding places."

"We can play upstairs, near the attic. There usually aren't any patients."

I wasn't really sure if I wanted to play there. We had played there before and there never was anyone to bother us, but it was also a bit creepy up there. Especially in the evening. It wasn't that late yet, but it was already dark outside and it would be really dark up there. But I was just being a coward. Drept was right, we could play there, without having to worry about the patients.

So I agreed and after I had finished writing my diary entry, we made our way over into the other building, sneaked past the staff tower and made our way over to the long winding stairs that led up to the attic. We stopped in an empty room somewhere underneath the attic and I turned towards the wall and started to count. We had agreed that Drept would hide first and as soon as I started counting I heard his footsteps running away.

I finished counting and then made my way right up the stairs. His footsteps had sounded as if he was going upstairs, so he had to be in the attic. When I finally reached the attic door, I was a bit out of breath. The stairs were really long and steep. I pushed open the door and slowly made my way inside.

"Drept? Are you in here?" I looked around the attic, but couldn't see anything that looked like a good hiding space. Then I noticed the painting, leaning against a crate near the window. So that's were they put it. For a moment I felt a bit sad that the man who painted it hadn't been aloud to keep it. He had been so proud of it and now it was just collecting dust up here. But, oh well, I was supposed to find Drept.

I turned around to look for him some more, when I noticed someone move in the shadows.

"Found you!", I called and started to walk over to where I had seen it.

But it wasn't Drept who was standing there. Drept wasn't that tall. I felt a shiver go down my spine. Who else would be up here?

"Found you, indeed!", the person – a woman? – said and stepped forward, out of the shadows. It was an old woman, someone I've never seen before. Was she a new patient? Was she dangerous?

"Well, well, what luck I seem to have today. Just stepped in and already found a suitable body. Yes, you seem to meet the requirements just perfectly. Tell me child, have you ever dreamed of immortality?"

I slowly stepped backwards, making my way back to the door one step after the other, careful not to startle the woman. That was one of the things Miss Arthur had taught us, never startle the patients.

The woman continued talking, apparently not caring that I hadn't answered her question. "Well child, I can give you that. Immortality. Well, to be honest, you yourself won't benefit from it, but your body will live on, forever and ever, eternally young. How does that sound, mhm?" The woman gave a mad cackle and started to move towards me, with a dangerous look in her eyes.

"Who are you?", I asked, while slowly and steadily moving backwards. I didn't really care who she was, as long as I would get away from her, but maybe I could distract her with talking.

The woman laughed. "That's a fair question. Why, yes, you should know exactly who will own your body from now on. I am the one from all those quaint little children rhymes, you surely know about. _Fiddle-dee dum and fiddle-dee dee, The old gray lady is after me, She wants my shoes and she wants my skin, There's none so small that she can't fit in._", she recited the rhyme with a mocking tone.

"The Gray Lady!", I gasped. But no, this couldn't be the Gray Lady, the Hag from those creepy stories, she didn't exist, this was just a patient believing to be her. It simply _couldn't_ be!

"Correct.", the woman said. "And now the time for talk is over, I don't have all night for this, I'm afraid." She stretched and it somehow looked like her body was growing taller. Then I noticed, that her body was indeed growing taller and wider! I couldn't do anything but stare at her in shock, completely frozen in place and watched her shoulders broadening and her arms growing longer. Then she shrugged off her cloak and I would have screamed in terror, if my voice hadn't stopped working. She was gigantic with glowing red eyes, but the worst part was her body. It wasn't just a body, it was many bodies made into one! There were small faces everywhere all over her body, all of them with a look of terror on them. In a short unreal moment time seemed to be frozen and I looked at all those faces and wondered if they had been other children like me and if I would end up like them.

Then time seemed to work normally again and I snapped out of my stupor and finally was able to give in to my first instinct and _run_. I turned and leaped at the door and pulled at the handle. And pulled again. Then I rattled at it with all my strength, but with the same effect: The door wouldn't move. The creature gave a laugh while it slowly approached. "Stupid girl, did you really think, I would let you escape this easily? Don't worry, I will make it quick, you will hardly feel a thing…" The thing slowly came even closer and I panicked even more. I didn't want to die! I had to get out of here somehow! Maybe someone would hear me and come to save me. I lunged at the door again and started to pound on it with all my strength, while screaming and yelling for help at the top of my lungs. Suddenly I got grabbed by the neck of my nightgown and the next thing I noticed was a strong pain in my back and head as I slammed against the opposite wall. Then the creature was in front of me again and it's horrible rotten scent filled my nostrils, before everything went black.

-.-.-.-.-

I felt _weird_. That was the first thing I noticed when I came around. The second thing I noticed was that I was facing a door. My sight was sort of foggy but I still could see a door and that definitely wasn't how the nursery tower looked. And why would I be upright anyway? I tried to move my head and though my body didn't really seem to move the way it should I eventually managed to look around the room. It looked like… the attic. Why was I here?

And then the memories suddenly came back. The Hag! She had wanted to kill me! Did that mean that I had survived? I didn't feel any pain, so maybe I had just fainted and she had thought I was dead and left? But my body felt still weird, so maybe she had done something?

After some struggling I finally managed to move my head enough to look down and I noticed a big stain on the floor. The sunlight coming in through the small window wasn't very strong but even in the dim light I could see that it looked like blood. Was that all my blood? I felt a feeling of panic wash over me again, but then I remembered that I was still alive and that I didn't feel any pain, so I must be alright. If I could just see my body then I could check for injuries and… My body! I was looking straight down to the floor, but all I could see, was the big stain! Why couldn't I see my legs, I should be standing right in that stain! I raised my arm to look at it, but there was nothing! What had happened to my body? Why could I feel it, but not see it? I tried to touch it, my arms, my face, my belly, but there was nothing there! How was that even possible, I was right here, yet I wasn't?

Then I suddenly knew the truth, like someone had whispered it in my ear. I was dead. The Hag had killed me. I had heard stories of something like this happening. People dying and then coming back. Drept had told me those stories. He had said he had heard stories of some forest people raising dead people with magic. Was that what had happened to me? Had someone put some magic on me?

I had to find Drept! He knew those stories, so maybe he knew a way to get me my body back! I was still here, I could still think, I couldn't be dead. There had to be a way!

I tried to move my invisible legs but couldn't. No, I could move them, but I couldn't use them to walk. Maybe there was another way. I willed away the panic I still felt and tried to concentrate on moving forward. After what felt like a very long time I finally managed to move a bit in the direction of the door. Yes, I could do it! But as soon as I had thought that, I started drifting back again, as if something pulled at me and before I could try to fight it, I ended up at exactly the same spot that I had started. I tried again, concentrating harder, but the result was the same. After a few more tries I felt close to tears, even if I didn't know if I could cry without a body. Would I be stuck here? What if I couldn't leave the attic? How should I find Drept that way? But no, I couldn't give up! I would find a way, I had to!

After a very long time of trying to move and finally being able to float around the attic a bit before I got sucked back again, I suddenly heard footsteps outside. Was that Drept? Was he looking for me? I didn't know how much time had passed since the attack – I still couldn't think about it as _my death_ – and I had kept up hope that it was just a short time and they were still looking for me. I didn't know how I should talk to Drept, but I was sure that I would find a way.

It wasn't Drept who came through the door though. It was that patient who had painted my picture. What was _he_ doing here? He ignored me – no, he couldn't actually see me – and went slowly over to the painting. He sat down in front of it and just stared at it for a while, before he started to talk. "I'm sorry for what happened to you, Lauryl." Why did he know my name? "They blamed me for your death, you know, they just didn't believe that I would never harm you. They tried to punish me, but now they can't do anything anymore. They are all gone now. King No One freed us and The Moth burned down the staff tower…" I gasped. The nursery tower was really close to it! Did it burn down as well? What about the other children? I screamed the questions at him, hoping that he would somehow hear me, but he didn't.

The patient sighed and looked up to the ceiling before looking back at the picture. "I might join you soon though. We're trapped in here. We can't break open the doors or smash in the windows. Some of us are dead already. I guess I just wanted to say goodbye to you Lauryl and thank you for sitting still. It's the first and only perfect picture I painted. I want to take it with me, but I don't have the strength to carry it anymore." He sighed again and stood up, reaching out to a beam to steady his body, shaking a bit before he managed to walk a few steps. I suddenly noticed how thin he had become, like he didn't get anything to eat anymore. He suddenly didn't seem scary anymore, just sad and tired. I wished I could talk to him. I still wanted to know what had happened to Drept. Was he trapped in here as well? Or had he escaped? The patient walked slowly and unsteady towards the door, then stopped again and looked back at me. Could he see me? But no, he was probably just looking at the blood stain.

"May your friend find the monster that killed you. There are people who deserve to die, you never were one of them!" Then he disappeared through the door, but it didn't matter anymore that I hadn't been able to talk to him. He had still given me the answer. Drept had got out of here! He would find a way to help me, I was sure of it! I just had to wait.

And wait I did. After a while I managed to leave the attic and explore the house. I always got sucked back to the attic, but the time I could be outside of it got longer and longer. The house crumbled and fell apart, but the more it crumbled the more alive it seemed to become. There was no one alive in here anymore, but their memories were. I now knew what had happened after my death because the Cradle had shown me. I had heard their voices, sometimes even seen a glimpse of it. But after a while I also realised one thing. I might be able to leave the attic now, but there was one thing I couldn't leave and that was the house itself. The Cradle kept its memories alive and I was one of it. That was the magic that had been put on me. I was a memory. And I would stay one. Forever.


End file.
